Work-life Diaries: Welcome!
Happy new year everyone, it’s been a while! This year I’ve made it my goal to invest more in the things I share and the intentions I put out to those around me. I’ve decided that in my blogs I want to begin a new series called the work-life diaries. I want to focus on the more holistic side of being a small business owner while also being a mother, friend, and individual person. It will be a space where I can chat about what it means to have ‘work-life balance’ when you’re the one employing your own work.
Many people think that when you begin your own small business you become your own boss. They see the starry lights of freedom, control and a way to stick it to big corporations and greedy bosses many of us escaped from. Some see waking up when you want, watching shows, managing your schedule, and all this extra free time! On paper it sounds like a dream, but I can be the first to tell you reality is a little harsher than that.
What a traditional job gives you is a certain structure. You know, in many cases, when you’ll be working, what you’ll be doing, and how to sacrifice exactly what you need to get a check. Being a small business owner, that is actually rarely the case. You might have this overwhelming feeling of needing to give more than you get. You want your business to succeed so desperately, you end up passionately pouring in more than you ever would have been expected of you. Sure, it probably feels a lot more fulfilling if you have the sense of ‘this is what I was meant to do’ and it’s something you love, but all the while it’s a cautionary tale. Give too much at once and small business burnout is a real thing.
I see this all the time with beginning businesses. So overworked to the sense that they have lost all other parts of their identity outside of being a small business owner. The hard truth is if you’re all work and no play the person your clients gets is not the authentic and best version of yourself. They’re getting the corporate victim posing as a free small business owner. No one wants to think they’re living a lie, but many of us put on these happy smiles but our nights have been late and our days packed hour to hour with work. Add in having a family on top of this and I hate to say your small business probably won’t last long just based on that strain alone.
So what’s the solution? How can you implement things in your day to day life as a small business owner to ensure you are doing the best things for your business while also being the best version of yourself? We’ll begin talking about the secret skills of the mysterious work-life balance in this new chatty style series.
